New data shows that in addition to overtaking Apple’s mobile market share, Android is also catching up in terms of its share of mobile revenue. The change explains in part why Google wants to create an “Android Silver” class of superior smartphones with major manufacturers: to eliminate iPhone’s superiority in terms of platform quality and the wealth of its users.

While Apple is still ahead in the monetization of those users, its lead is shrinking there also. Here are Opera’s market share numbers, based on 64 billion ad impressions served to 500 million consumers:

"Last year at this time, agencies were still saying, 'Hey, I prefer iOS users,'" said Mahi de Silva, CEO of Opera Mediaworks. He said Apple's operating system delivered deeper engagement and a glossier platform. That's no longer the case. "The quality of the advertising that we can deliver on a Samsung and Android device is pretty much on par with an iOS," Mr. de Silva added.

The catchup comes after Android recently surpassed Apple in app downloads, according to app download measurement company App Annie. iPhone’s dominance in apps used to come from the fact that Apple insisted on higher-quality standards for apps, and because the users were more lucrative, app developers made more apps for them, and the app experience on Apple was richer. Thus there were more apps, and more downloads happening on iOS than on Android. But for some time now there have been more apps available in the Google Play store than in the iOS App Store, and now more downloads occur from Google Play than in the App Store.

Again, revenue from those apps is less on Android than Apple. But it’s another area where the gap is closing.

And now there is even one area where Android has surpassed Apple in terms of revenue: mobile phone shopping.